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EDUCATION

Call for parents in France to keep children off school on Thursday

Two teachers’ unions in France have called for a strike in protest at what they have described as the ‘unmanageable’ health protocol in the country’s schools, a measure backed by a parents group, who called on parents to keep their children at home in a day of protest.

Published: 7 January 2022 14:41 CET
Updated: 10 January 2022 16:01 CET
Pupils wearing facemasks raise their hands to respond to a question from a teacher
Photo: Philippe Desmazes / AFP

The SNUipp-FSU union, which represents mainly primary school teachers, and the SE-Unsa which represents staff in collèges and lycées issued the strike call for Thursday, January 13th. 

It is in protest over ‘inconsistent measures’ regarding the health of staff and pupils during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Their call has been backed by the parents’ group Fédération des conseils de parents d’élèves, who called for a ‘day of protest’ on Thursday in which parents keep their children off school.

They are appealing to make Thursday a journée blanche – or void day – in the school calendar.

The SNUipp-FSU blamed Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer for easing health rules in French classes a matter of days after they were introduced, and called for a return to the old situation of a single positive Covid test leading to the closure of classes, and close contact testing among families, as well as a policy of systematic weekly saliva tests.

“The Minister boasts of keeping schools open to dress up his political choice to make schools a daycare centre, to allow parents to go to work, in defiance of the health of staff, children and their families,” the union said.

When pupils went back to school on January 3rd, new rules stated that primary school pupils and vaccinated pupils over 12 needed to take an antigen or PCR test on the day a positive Covid-19 case was recorded in their class, and follow that up with self-administered tests on day two and day four. 

This process was required for each new case. Under the new rules, no additional testing is required if further cases are detected during the three-test cycle.

Unvaccinated children over 12 have to self-isolate for seven days on the detection of a Covid case in their class. 

But unions have criticised the measures and accused Blanquer of not listening to their concerns: “During the health meeting yesterday (Thursday), the minister remained deaf once again to the demands made by the trade unions to protect schools.”

Member comments

  2. I believe that school teachers are a strong moral voice. This is not about asking for higher pay or longer vacations. They are simply calling for protections for themselves and their students. The current rules are allowing covid to spread unchecked in schools! It is wrong for the government to continually loosen the rules for schools as the pandemic is getting worse, against the advice of their own experts.

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HEALTH

France’s Covid-19 app to be ‘put to sleep’

France's Covid-tracker app, used for months for the all-important 'health pass' will be switched off today, health officials have confirmed.

Published: 30 June 2023 13:29 CEST
France’s Covid-19 app to be 'put to sleep'

Covid-19 screening in France reaches an important milestone on Friday, June 30th, 2023 – when the TousAntiCovid app is officially ‘put to sleep’.

The app, which was launched in June 2020 as France came out of its first lockdown of the pandemic and has undergone a number of iterations, including as a delivery device for the health pass, will be switched off. 

For most people, this anniversary will pass without mention. Few people have consulted the app in recent months, and it has sat dormant on many smartphones since France’s Covid-19 health pass requirement was suspended in March 2022.

Meanwhile, the Système d’Informations de DEPistage (SI-DEP) interface – which has been informing people about their test results since the Spring of 2020 – is also being shut down on June 30th, as per legal requirements.

The SI-DEP shutdown means that it will also be impossible to retrieve Covid test certificates issued before June 30th, should the need arise. All data held by the database will be “destroyed”, officials have said.

It has handled more than 320 million antigen and PCR tests since it was introduced.

This does not mean that testing for Covid-19 has stopped, or is now unnecessary. As reported recently, more than 1,000 deaths a week in Europe are still caused by the virus.

The shutdown of the national information system does not mean that people in France cannot still book an appointment for an antigen test at a pharmacy, or a PCR test at a laboratory. But the number of people going for testing is declining rapidly. In recent days, according to Le Parisien, just 15,000 people in France took a Covid test – the lowest number, it said, since the pandemic started.

Reimbursement rules for testing changed on March 1st, with only certain categories of people – minors, those aged 65 and over, or immunosuppressed patients – covered for the entire cost of testing.

From Friday, only PCR test results will be transmitted to authorities for data purposes, meaning pharmacists that only offer antigen testing will be locked out of the online interface to record test results.

The reason for the shift in priorities is to maintain “minimal epidemiological surveillance”, the Ministry of Health has reportedly told scientists.

As a result test certificates, showing a positive or negative result, will no longer be issued from July 1st. Since February 1st, anyone taking a test has had to give consent to share their data in order to obtain a certificate. 

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